SPORTS BRIEFS

Agencies

SOCCER

Minnows sign Balotelli’s bro

The younger brother of Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has signed for a non-league club in the England’s eighth tier. Salford City, a team also based in Manchester, says it has signed Enoch Barwuah subject to international clearance. The semi-professional club displayed a picture of Barwuah on its Web site on Friday and says “we wish Enoch all the best in his time with us and we look forward to seeing him in a tangerine shirt soon.” Salford are currently ninth in the Northern Premier League First Division.

BASKETBALL

Nash out for at least a week

Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash will be sidelined for “at least another week” because of a small fracture in his left leg, the NBA team said on Friday. The twice former Most Valuable Player has missed seven games since suffering the injury against the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 31. The 38-year-old Nash was examined by a Lakers team doctor earlier on Friday and will be re-evaluated next weekend, the Lakers said in a statement. A magnetic resonance imaging examination on Nov. 3 showed a small non-displaced fracture in the head of his fibula, the team said. Nash was acquired by the Lakers in a trade with the Phoenix Suns during the offseason. The eight-time All-Star has averaged 4.5 points and 4.0 assists this season.

BASKETBALL

tatue honors Abdul-Jabbar

The Los Angeles Lakers paid tribute to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Friday, unveiling a statue of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in his trademark sky-hook pose outside their Staples Center arena. Abdul-Jabbar became the sixth Los Angeles sports figure memorialized with a statue outside the downtown arena, joining fellow NBA greats Magic Johnson and Jerry West, the NHL’s “Great One” Wayne Gretzky, boxer Oscar de la Hoya and longtime Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn. “I’m very glad we got here before the pigeons got to it,” quipped Abdul-Jabbar after he pulled the cord to unveil the nearly 4.9m-tall likeness. “You should have had the first statue,” said Johnson, who was on hand for the unveiling along with Pat Riley, who coached both Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar on the “Showtime” era Lakers who won five titles in the 1980s. “It was on your back that we’re here at Staples Center,” Johnson said. Abdul-Jabbar, a towering 2.18m center who changed his name from Lew Alcindor after leading Milwaukee to the 1971 NBA title, scored 38,387 points in 1,560 games over a 20-year NBA career and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player six times. Since retiring from the NBA in 1989, he has focused on raising awareness of African-American history and campaigning for socio-economic justice.

Soccer

Job like Merkel’s: Heynkes

Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has said coaching the Bavarian giants is the second-toughest job in Germany, only behind that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I think that the coach of FC Bayern has the most difficult job in Germany after the chancellor,” the 67-year-old told Munich daily TZ, having taken charge for the third time in July last year. “Here there is an absolute desire for success, there are always ups and downs, you always have to be wide awake. In a top club, you can’t really enjoy the football anymore. The fans can, but the coach or the chief executive? No, you can never be sure that you will be successful.”